About FCHD

The Department of Family, Consumer, and Human Development (FCHD) is a diverse collection of scholars with content expertise in each of the areas noted in the name. The Family faculty focus on family interactions in a variety of contexts including Marriage and Family Therapy. Consumer Science faculty have expertise in housing and family financial counseling. Our Human Development faculty study humans across the entire lifespan. This interdisciplinary approach to the study of human interactions provides excellent training at both the undergraduate and graduate levels of education.

Family Therapy Services

Extension & Outreach

PhD Program Checklist

Students have 8 years from the time they matriculate to complete all program requirements.See Graduate handbook for the number of required credits.

Supervisory Committee form is approved and up-to-date (end of second semester). (A revised
Supervisory Committee form must be submitted to the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) if there
are changes in the composition of the Supervisory Committee.)

Program of Study (POS) is approved by the end of the second semester. Meet with your advisor
and create a program of study. Contact Rhonda Jacobs and she will
enter the POS into the DegreeWorks system and generate a POS that you and your supervisory
committee will electronically sign through DocuSign. If you need to make changes to your POS,
please submit a POS Revision form to Rhonda Jacobs.

Residency Requirement: of the credits on the POS, either 50% or 33 semester credits, whichever
is fewer, are from Utah State University.

Dissertation proposal is signed by all committee members and submitted to the SGS.

Coursework on the POS taken more than 8 years prior to the defense is considered out of date
and will need to be retaken.

Application for Candidacy form is approved, including verification that comprehensive exams
have been passed (at least three months prior to final defense). Please fill out the form and
email to Rhonda Jacobs.

Must be registered for at least 3 credit hours the semester of defense.

Record of Exam Completion form is signed by the entire committee and submitted to the SGS.
This form is not available online and will be brought to your defense by a member of your
supervisory committee.

Data and Copyright form and Plans for Publication form are submitted to the SGS.

Incomplete grades for research credits are changed by the major professor.

Information in Banner is current, graduation surveys completed, and the diploma fee paid.

Banner: Permanent address and diploma mailing address (diplomas are mailed 8-10
weeks after the end of the semester)

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Approval form (provided at the final defense) is signed
and taken to the Merrill-Cazier Library with the thesis.

Dissertation is completed and signed by all committee members, after which it is submitted to
the assistant dean in the SGS for review. When satisfactory, the SGS dean will sign the thesis and
it must be picked up from the SGS office, copied, and taken to the second floor of the MerrillCazier
Library for binding. Binding fees will be paid to the library at this time. Please note the
university requires that one copy of the dissertation will remain in the library.

After the dean has signed the thesis, the student’s file is reviewed for completion and processed
for graduation.

Binding Clearance form is returned to the SGS signaling the completion of degree.

Note: All requirements, forms, and the Graduation Information Checklist must be completed by
the last day of the semester you plan to complete your program.